Little things, too, amaze him: He no longer has to shave every day; instead, he brushes a miraculous preparation of some sort over his cheeks once a week and this is sufficient to keep down his beard. Similarly, he uses a hairbrush that keeps his hair at length of his choosing, so he never needs to visit barber (which is good, since barbers no longer exist).

The appeal of Golf in Year 2000 is perhaps stronger today than it was when it was first published. Golfing fans, as could be expected, enjoy it for its wry commentary on sport as practiced in 19th century and in "future" (our present) as imagined by a contemporary of H.G. Wells, who was also writing speculative fiction about things to come. General readers have fallen in love with it, too. Not only is it fun to go through it tallying up author McCullough's hits and misses on predictive front, book radiates a kind of Victorian charm that is reminiscent of a Sherlock Holmes story.

Now, world is rediscovering this little literary fantasy.

In January of 2005, news services reported that an American collector named James Espinola had paid $2,240 at auction for a rare first edition of Golf in Year 2000. Although Espinola is said to be in process of selling off his own huge collection of golf memorabilia, he was quoted as explaining that he can't resist buying occasional "odd thing" at auction--and this was one of those things.

The Edinburgh, Scotland, auction house of Lyon and Trumbull had guessed that book would fetch less than a quarter of what it ended up bringing. The auctioneers' golf specialist was quoted as saying that final price "took us a bit by surprise."

Although original editions of book are extremely rare, it has occasionally been reprinted in facsimile editions from time to time. No one thought to make it available to vast audiences of World Wide Web, though, until recently.

On February 26, 2005, a little over a month following news about auctioned first edition, Golf in Year 2000 made its Web debut at http://www.golf-in-the-year-2000.com. The full text of this odd and engaging book is finally available for anyone, anywhere to read--without charge.

At end of book, main character declares that he does not intend to wake up and find himself back in 1892 again, and that his amazing adventure was all a dream. "No, no; I'm in 2000, and in 2000 I mean to stay." Like him, tale of his adventure seems to have found a secure place in our time.

But suppose they don’t appeal to you. You have another choice. Self Publishing

Yes, you may decide to do it yourself. Print and publish your work. Go round, promote and distribute your book. Become your own manager, accountant and clerk. And more! Then ask yourself: How far can I go? Do I have time? Do I have experience? Can I bear health and physical risks?

Well, it is up to you to decide. And remember what Hippocrates said: ”Ars Longa: Vita brevis -– Arts is long, but life is short”.

If none of above appeals to you, you are not to tuck away your precious manuscript in attic. And go bungee jumping! Life after all, “is not a roller coaster” someone says. So, why not try exciting world of Internet Publishing.

Internet Publishing Did I say exciting? Yes, of course. The world had been dragging until some whiz kids got their magic boxes together and said: “Let computers be connected!” And there came Internet. And dot com bomb. So, at touch of button, you have world at your feet. Isn’t that exciting? You, writer has so much to gain from Internet. You can do your research there, read all kinds of books, and do ultimate –- publish on Internet.

I am not going to do a dissertation here because I do not know so much about subject (pardon my ignorance.) I even understand that there is going to be a “new” kind of Internet, soon (pity me.) The first thing I will tell you though, is that dragons live there. The second is that many dot com companies are closing shop. And third is that there is no hidden secret to success in net than hard work, as in real life. (Is Internet not real?) The fourth is that Internet is your shortcut to success. Do you want to find out? Why not visit experts as you read on. Two publishing opportunities are open to you on Internet. What are they? you may ask. E- BOOK PUBLISHERS

Just as you have traditional publishers, so you have electronic or e- book publishers. But be careful! Many of them out there don’t know what they are doing. And remember, you are going to do business with someone you don’t see. So you will have to ascertain credibility of your publisher.

These are categories of E- book publishers I have observed from my own personal experience. Which is your preference?

1. Targeted Publishers

These ones publish selected books targeted for special audience. They publish How-To’s, books on Business planning, web site, search engines, Net Etiquette, humor and others. If your book is on these subject matters you are free to submit. 2. Submit, ready to sell.

These publishers would want you to submit your formatted E- book ready to sell. But manuscript would previously have been submitted for approval. And you would not be asked to make any financial commitment in this case. If this appeals to you, submit. 3. General Publishers

Submit your finished manuscript of any genre to these E- book publishers. Pay for publication and go to bed. They will handle everything from formatting to publishing and promotion. Your book will even be available as an E- book or Rocket E – book, paperback book and audio book and in several, other forms (as you may desire.) Interested? Then submit!

PRINT-ON-DEMAND PUBLISHING

Your book can now be published in paper back or hard cover and be made available to be ordered online anywhere. This technology is known as print-on-demand (POD). The copies are as good as ones from traditional printing houses. And there are no unsold copies.

For a list of publishers, simply search following on Web:

Trade publishers

Subsidy publishers

E-book publishers

Print-on-demand publishers

But if these do not appeal to you, and you have training and computer experience, you may play Stephen King—publish yourself!

Arthur Zulu is an editor, book reviewer, and author of Chasing Shadows!, How to Write a Best-seller, A Letter to Noah, and many other works. For his works and FREE help for writers, goto: http://controversialwriter.tripod.com mailto: controversialwriter@yahoo.com